Events Archive for September 2012

This year the nation celebrates the 40th Anniversary of Supplemental Security Income program, which provides income support to people with disabilities, including 1.3 million children. For families, the program is a lifesaver that allows for greater economic security as they provide family-centered care for their children. Despite its tremendous value, conservatives are targeting the program for reforms, some of which mirror what was done to programs like TANF. It is clear that this isn’t the way to go. The Children’s SSI program would benefit from some reforms, but ones that improve outreach to qualifying families, target resources to those most in need, and facilitate successful work outcomes.

The social challenges facing the world are immense, from poverty and disease, to climate change and famine. The combined efforts of world governments and private philanthropy have made enormous advances in addressing these global challenges, but tapping even a small percentage of the resources in private capital markets could unleash billions of new dollars dedicated to social good. In our interconnected world, financial markets are increasingly exposed to new risks when social problems go unaddressed. Our challenge now is to encourage investors to move beyond a dichotomy between doing well and doing good, to a new model where the pillars of the triple bottom line – social good, environmental good, and financial growth – are of equal value.

A critical goal of the historic Affordable Care Act is to move our health care system from one that is high-cost and high-volume to one that is high-value. And it’s not just the federal government that is implementing important reforms: states, as well as private businesses and insurers, are testing different payment models to fundamentally change how health care is paid for and delivered across the country. Please join the Center for American Progress as it welcomes Governor Kitzhaber who will discuss these efforts, as well as how Oregon’s outcomes-based approach can serve as a model for other states and other federal programs. We will also hear from a panel of health policy experts, including Dr. Geeta Nayyar of AT&T Advanced Solutions, who will discuss why these types of payment and delivery reforms are important to the business community.

Too many children—often low-income children and children of color—are denied access to high-quality education because they attend schools that are underfunded and under resourced. All 50 states have adopted school-funding formulas—systems for distributing state aid—that are often aimed at addressing and reducing funding inequities. But many of these systems fail to achieve this goal and differences in per-pupil spending between low-income and high-income communities persist.

There's something funny about voting in America. For starters, where is the Electoral College—and does it have a winning football team? Why does America have 13,000 voting districts, each with its own set of rules? And why are residents of our nation’s capital denied full voting rights?

Please join the Center for American Progress for a keynote address by Congressman Adam Smith, who has represented Washington’s 9th District for the past 16 years, to address these questions and more. As Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, Representative Smith oversees a wide range of foreign policy issues related to our force posture, our military presence in Europe and Asia, and strategic and regional stability. This work gives him a unique perspective on the future of the U.S.-Russian relationship.

Show Embed Code In November 2011 the Center for American Progress released Ruy Teixeira and John Halpin’s influential report, “The Path to 270.” That report argued that two large forces will ultimately determine the outcome of the 2012 election: the shifting demographic balance of the American electorate and the objective reality and voter perception […]